Macomb Township trustee: Abolish compensation committee

A committee established last winter to review and possibly recommend increases in the salaries and benefits of elected and appointed township officials may be dissolved.

“I’m going to ask the board to abolish it,” said township Trustee Dino Bucci, who pushed for formation of the committee earlier this year.

The board created the committee to review the salaries and benefit packages of the seven elected officials as well as those of individuals who serve as appointees to Macomb Township’s various boards and commissions. Township officials even appointed a three-member panel of residents to study the issue and come back with recommendations.

“We thought it was a great fit,” Bucci said.

The committee did hold some meetings, but recommendations were never forthcoming, Bucci said. Moreover, changes in the makeup of the committee made without approval of the Board of Trustees rendered any action the body might take invalid, he said.

Bucci did not blame anybody for the problems, but cited poor communication for the inaction. He said he’d prefer the township start the process anew. He said he hopes the board agrees to disband the committee and revisit the compensation question next fall with an eye toward possible changes to start 2014.

Macomb Township elected officials last received pay raises in January 2007. Their current salaries are: supervisor, $78,786; clerk and treasurer, $73,159; and part-time trustees, $8,330 plus $125 for each meeting they attend.

In the past, elected officials have set compensation for their positions themselves. The establishment of a compensation committee marked a change in recent policy, though the Board of Trustees ultimately must make the final decision regardless of how the recommendations are made.

Bucci said he’ll ask the issue be included as a formal agenda item at an upcoming meeting of the Board of Trustees.